Reviews with content warning for Fire/Fire injury - The Wolf and the Woodsman

This book is a dark adventure of folktale-inspired worldbuilding that relies heavily on body horror laced into the magic system and cruel characters ruling over others. The body horror and brutality made me wince, the extent of them were too much for me. However, the book is also a tale of fragile hope building between Évike and Gáspár, the main characters with two very different world views learning to understand and support each other. Their deepening relationship and shifting worldviews were what kept me reading the book further.

"What would you have me do?" he asks. "You have already ruined me."

The worldbuilding showcases a colonizing worldview where the ruling religious group deems other religions, cultures, and ethnicities inferior and something that should be purged. The oppressor-religious group is content on using the other groups to their own benefit, though. They take the others' magic, lives, and even their folklore, but bend it so that it fits their own religious world view. This changing of stories takes the voice away from the original people, hiding them.

You can't hoard stories the way you hoard gold, despite what Virág would say. There's nothing to stop anyone from taking the bits they like, and changing or erasing the rest, [--]

The ruling people of the world do this even to their own kings: their legacy is carved in stone only after their death, when he kings themself won't be able to have a say in it anymore, so the living may decide what kind of kingdom they have left behind. Words have power, and the rulers are very strict with who gets a say in anything important. Hence, the cruelty of rendering other people voiceless extends to every level of the society, making power a fleeting thing instead of a lasting impression.

Reid brings up the topic of picking parts of someone else's folklore and rebuilding it to fit one's own needs multiple times. She seems to have a message that this kind of cultural appropriation is bad, but cannot be stopped. She flashes different possibilities of the groups either being forcefully assimilated into the ruling religious ways, staying separate and against each other, or finding a way to mix and coexist.

Maybe by doing so Reid wants to justify her own usage of source material and research for this book: Reid herself has clearly used this strategy of reusing stories while writing this book. She has combed through different mythologies, religious and cultural lore and histories, and uses them quite loosely as her material, combining them into her fantasy world and disregarding some parts or facts altogether. Reid uses at least jewish lore, Eastern European mythology, history and names, and Finnish national epic Kalevala. I was first intriqued by this, but the execution left me wanting a retelling more true to the elements of the original tales or an altogether more original lore to this fantasy world.

Content Warnings

moonchild_cos's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

cepbreed's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

“We belong to each other. ”

So atmospheric and each description is as fantastical as the last. I was particularly impressed by the witch in the sod house. The sudden switch to the grotesque and horrifying caught me off guard and was truly immersive. The world building is like no other but at the same time it is convoluted and hard to keep track of. I won’t pretend that I could name a single place or character besides the main two despite dedicating days to reading this book.

The one thing occupying my mind during the duration of my read was the fact that Gáspár is basically Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender. The evil royal father casts him aside, abuses both him and his mother, and most strikingly delivers a prominent eye injury. Just like Zuko Gáspár has to become a warrior and complete an unsavory mission. He’s forced to work alongside Évike, an enemy of his determined by the wars of men that came before them, aka she represents Katara/the entire Gaang. Similarly to Zuko losing his firebending Gáspár becomes incompetent in the art of battle when he’s forced to use an axe as a woodsman rather than the sword he was used to as a prince. In both scenarios, the change in power is due to casting aside their family.

Even the final battle is similar. Gáspár/Zuko face their overly powerful dark sibling Nándor/Azula with the help of their former enemy-turned ally Évike/Katara.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE LEFT ME WITH SO MANY THOUGHTS. As much as the act of Gáspár kneeling in front of her was sexual it brought me so much relief. Nándor constantly made lewd jokes about Évike on her knees which were meant to demean her. In the one scene where someone is on their knees in that context, it is not Évike. Even more importantly it is an expression of love, a plea for forgiveness, and a promise from Gáspár to her. So wonderful.

I can’t help myself. Whenever I read something with any remotely religious undertones I have to put on Ethel Cain. This is no exception, hence the songs I feel represent the novel.

Songs:

Strangers - Ethel Cain
Compass - The Neighbourhood
Take Me to Church - Hozier
Not Strong Enough - boygenius
Dear Arkansas Daughter - Lady Lamb
mad woman - Taylor Swift
The Exit - Conan Gray (“the shape of our wounds is the same” - Évike)

Content Warnings

chrisljm's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.25

Meh. Not a fan of the narration, which read like poetry but in the way where I just don't know wtf they're talking about sometimes. The folklore is written well but it became repetitive and too drawn out, making the story drag.

Also for all the people who recommended this book because of the romance, you had to be making shit up because the romance sucked. Not to say the romance came out of nowhere, because I knew it was going to happen, but there was absolutely no build up at all. I didn't care for any of the characters, which is besides the point because they also had no chemistry at all. I truly don't understand what Gáspár liked about Évike because she was honestly dumb as fuck. She had no common sense and no sense of self preservation. She absolutely refused to think before any of her actions, even when Gáspár explicitly explains how she'd make the situation worse. She also spends majority of the book belittling Gáspár, and constantly attacking him on how she thinks he's ashamed they've laid and slept together, even though they have so many other things to worry about. He literally tries to get her to think before doing something rash and getting them both killed and she accuses him of fearing people will found out he's no longer pure. Like be fucking fr.

The book also touches on religious/ethical/moral themes but honestly with the messy plot and execution, flat characters, and confusing narration, I honestly don't know what the take away was supposed to be.

Content Warnings

maresuju's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

e_gracereads's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I DEVOURED this book. It is a BEAUTIFUL fantasy set in a very vivid, gorgeous world based on medieval Hungary. I love our main characters, Evike and Gaspar, despite the fact they both have very evident negative traits (very refreshing in a book!) and I felt truly seen by them both. The conflict of not only two religions but two entirely different ways of life is portrayed beautifully here, and there is so much thought provoking imagery, as well as beautiful storytelling that is utterly central to the plot and emphasizes the importance of storytelling and myth in our lives and culture. God. I could go on and on. I loved this book and I will be reading more from her.

Content Warnings

katievallin's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

More...